He Was Just A Boy
by Capricious Purple Clarity
Summary: Sequel to When I Met Him. Six years since Harry met Drake. Five years since Harry defeated Voldemort. Harry wonders if he’ll ever get his chance to see Drake again... SLASH.
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this fic save a few -Sin, Will, Aedri, Journey, and Valorie (pronounced Vuh-LORIE, if you wanna get technical) are all mine. Most all others belong to JK Rowling herself. Disclaimer applies for all chapters.

WARNINGS: AU, M/M slash, Mpreg, perhaps some language. Sequel to _When I Met Him_ -I think you should read that before you read this.

SUMMARY: Six years since Harry met Drake. Five years since Harry defeated Voldemort. Harry wonders if he'll ever get his chance to see Drake again... SLASH.

THANKS TO: Kyo-nezumi, fragonknight01, Alexa, insanechildfanfic, mickeylover303, and Sheree for their wonderful comments. Sheree and mickeylover303 -get out of my head. big grin

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was going to wait a week before posting the sequel, but then I realized I was going to be on vacation with my parents for an unknown period of time (first they said a week; then it became two days. Now it's back to a week, and I have no idea what's going on). I decided to post the prologue and the first chapter, at least.

* * *

_**He Was Just A Boy  
**_**_Capricious Purple Clarity  
__Prologue_**

* * *

On the anniversary of Voldemort's defeat, Harry Potter always found himself drawn to Guiltless Paradise, a club aimed for the young and lost. Though he no longer considered himself young or lost at all, he always somehow gravitated there one way or another, alone, hopeful to find the one person he couldn't forget, even after six years of never laying eyes on the familiar form of the boy he had somehow come to call his silver-eyed angel. How could he forget the other's grace, beauty, and poise? How could he bring himself to ignore the fact that, if it weren't for the boy who Harry only knew as Drake, there was a great possibility that Harry wouldn't have fought Voldemort with as much ferocity as he had, wouldn't have persevered where others had failed?

It all came down to need. He wanted... no, _needed_ to find Drake, to tell him that, in the memory of their one night of passion, Drake had helped him in more ways than one. Drake had unintentionally inspired Harry to do something that Harry himself nearly lost all confidence in his ability to do... To fulfill a prophecy, something his parents died for, something that he'd been praised as a hero over for all of his life, though he hadn't known about it until he was eleven.

Of course, he couldn't explain it all to Drake -his silver-eyed angel happened to be a muggle. But he could at least say something, maybe... show some form of gratitude he was desperate to get out. A part of him wanted something more than just to see the boy, no doubt a man as Harry was now. There was an every-aspirant being in him that hoped that maybe, just maybe he could initiate a more permanent relationship with Drake, desiring for more than just a one time thing. Because when Harry fell, he fell with his everything.

* * *

The last trip Drake had made to England, it had been because of his father. So, of course, his next trip to England was basically for the same person, for a different reason.

At least he wouldn't be forced to even attempt to get along with his father this time, he mused as he stared toward a distant point in the passing scenery, two small, blonde heads lying on either knee, his two best friends and his guardian sitting across from him in uncomfortable silence. They knew how to handle the situation only a little better than Drake himself did.

How was a man to react to the news of the death of a father he never really knew and never really cared to get to know? Whistling was out. Mostly Drake occupied himself with staring off into the distance. Should he mourn the passing of a complete stranger? He wasn't really in the mournful mood. He just wanted to get everything settled with the lawyers as quickly and efficiently as possible so he could spend his time doing better things for the rest of the summer -which was how long this stay in England was supposed to last. Like find Mr. Green Eyes.

He smiled to himself when the memory of that long-used nickname for the unknown muggle boy from years ago surfaced again, and he stroked the blonde curls of his daughter's head absently as he laid a hand on his sleeping son's shoulder. At least this whole unpleasant experience gave Drake the opportunity to maybe search the man out... and he couldn't hide the side of him that wanted to search him out for more than just a chance to explain what their one night of passion wrought. Though small in comparison to the United States, England happened to be a very big place filled with people. It could take months, even _years_ to search out the unwitting father of his children with nothing but a description... and things changed over the span of six years.

Drake was a bit taller than he had been when he'd met the boy, and his face had matured somewhat. He no longer had the rebellious hair -instead, it had grown out, the dye cut away long ago, leaving his white-blond tresses ending just below his earlobes. He was still prone to wearing muggle clothes, as he found them more comfortable then the more traditional robes fit for his kind. Fatherhood had soften him around the edges -he didn't smoke or drink, destructive things he'd given up quickly when he realized he was to be a father. Would Green Eyes recognize him as he was now? He liked to think so.

Would he recognize the other if they ever did meet again? Drake imagined how Green Eyes would look after six years -gone would be the awkward boy entering manhood. Taller, maybe, but not by much because Green Eyes was already inches away from 6" when they met. He'd have the same magnetic, myopic green eyes that Drake knew him for, of course. Perhaps the same hair? Drake remembered running his fingers through that midnight black hair as Green Eyes slept, amusing himself with attempting to make the wild tresses stay flat. He remembered running a finger along the pinkish, jagged scar on Green Eyes forehead, curious as to where something so distinguishing came from -like an N, with the legs of the letter spread out a bit. Years ago he amused himself by guessing that the scar was actually an initial in the boy's name. Nate or Nathan or Nathaniel, Nicholas or Nick, Newton...

"There's that look again," Will said suddenly, a smirk on his lips as he gave Drake a cunning glance. "Thinking of Green Eyes, Draky old boy?"

"Of course," Drake murmured softly, threading his fingers through his daughter's hair as he rubbed his son's back.

Sin made a face at him. "So, what, are we finally going to ferret out the little deserter?"

Sin's father grinned and clapped his palm against the back of his son's head. "Now, Sin. How many times does Drake have to explain the situation? Neither of them knew the repercussion of their one night together. Besides, Drake was the one that left _him_ in the morning, remember?"

"Whatever," Sin grumbled, crossing his arms and slumping in his seat.

"You know Sin, Uncle Aedri," Will said laughingly. "Drake's the sweet, innocent, can-do-no-wrong one of the group. Of _course_ we're going to feel overly protective of him, thus in Sin's mind, it's all the other guy's fault."

Drake made a face. "I'm not sweet."

"Sweet on Green Eyes," Will retorted with a smirk. "Maybe we'll make a trip to Surrey, hey? See if he's still hanging around."

"I don't think so," Drake said heavily. "He lived with family in Surrey -family he didn't get along with. I suspect he did what I would have done -moved far, far away from them."

"Where there is Will, there is a way," Will proclaimed knowingly, smirking at his play on words.

Sin rolled his eyes knowingly. "And if there is no way, William will be sure to make one with cleverly placed nuclear explosions. Conceited jerk."

"Ignorant Yank," Will tallied whimsically, knowing full well that Sin was the only one born in the States... besides the twins, but Will fairly doted on the children.

"How about I clip this startling exchange of wit in the butt and inform the both of you that you're idiots," Aedri said mildly. This, of course, only inspired hefty retorts and continued scathing from the other two.

Drake rolled his eyes, unable to prevent the fond smile from crossing his lips. Sometimes he felt like he really was the only adult in the group...

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_**END Prologue**_

Still interested? Then wait for the next chapter! Reviews very much welcome!


	2. Chapter One

_**He Was Just A Boy  
**_**_Capricious Purple Clarity  
__Chapter One_**

* * *

"You feel guilty about leaving Drake to fend off the lawyers all by his lonesome?"

Will snorted into his ice cream cone. "Dude, to feel guilty I'd have to be capable of the emotion in the first place." Will was capable of many things -he'd always had a firm understanding in all depths of human emotions. 'Guilty' was the one word that wasn't in his vocabulary at all. Even if he did realize he was at fault, he shrugged it off with ease. It was his popular philosophy that agonizing over some accident or some slight of word that he'd meant was complete bullshit, and if someone got hurt, than they needed a reality check. The world was a dark, cruel, unforgiving place.

"Yeah, me neither," Sin said cheerfully, sprawling out on the park bench with a cone dangling carelessly from his fingers, the lump of ice cream threatening to tilt over and slide off. "Does this make me a sociopath like you?"

Will made a show of actually thinking about that before slowly replying, "I wouldn't call myself a sociopath... but sometimes that appears to be the case."

"You're maniacal and you know it."

"I am that," Will said with a smarmy grin.

Sin considered his dripping chocolate ice cream cone for a moment before he said, "Huh. Maybe we should have brought the bratlings instead of leaving them at the tender mercies of Dad. Think he's trying to make them do something productive and entirely irrational -like learn?"

Will snickered. "Teaching is his way of showing he cares. Really. Just ask any of his students, former and current."

"What strange dimension did you come from?" Sin demanded. "Learning under Dad's tutelage was like taking a vacation to the seventh layer of hell, where there are no weekends. Half the time I was convinced he hated all sentient life forms on this planet, if only because they didn't match up to his exact standards."

"I always kind of figured Uncle Aedri liked me in the classroom," Will said casually.

"Which time? The time you two got into that screaming debate over the best way to repel a vampire? Or how about that one time when you started off on your 'werewolves are people too' campaign, when Dad made it explicitly clear that he didn't care either way? You let his Acrumentulas loose, Will -his whopping six feet tall big freaking spiders! You were lucky those uglies didn't make meals out of the rest of us, or you would have been expelled faster than Britney Spears became a step-mom."

"I kept him on his toes," Will replied lightly, the smirk never leaving his face. "Sometimes it's questioning a teacher's methods that earns that teacher's respect, my friend. Prevents people like me from being darling little 'yes-boys' and 'yes-girls' like the rest of you poor, pathetic norms."

"I'm nobody's yes-boy," Sin muttered rebelliously, licking his sticky fingers clean of melted ice cream.

"I'd love to live in your fantasy world. Too bad I'm grafted in reality... where the pizza man comes from," Will murmured cunningly. Sin narrowed his eyes at his friend critically.

"Why do I still talk to you?"

"My sparkling wit and charming personality?" Will decided it would be prudent to ignore Sin's snort of derisive disbelief.

"Who's living in a fantasy world now?"

"I'm allowed to visit every once in awhile. How else would I debase myself to your level?" Insert shit-eating grin here.

Sin laughed despite the insult, but his attention was drawn by movement out of the corner of his eye. Being that it was just around six on a weekday, most children and adults alike had fled the park Will and Sin were visiting due to the threat of a storm. There, near the small lake with the slightly murky, choppy water, stood a figure in the distance that seemed to be simply staring at the horizon, inspecting the dark clouds that were fast rolling in. Sin almost brushed it off, just about to turn back to Will for another rejoinder, another counter, when the man turned slightly, and Sin saw what had originally caught his attention.

Green eyes.

Sin knew those green eyes. Such a distinguishing, bright green that seemed fathoms deep. Those were the same green eyes of a little girl who stared up at him, silently begging for please, just one more chocolate frog. Those were the same green eyes of a little boy who peered up at him through a blond fringe in hopes of another story before bedtime. The same green eyes that Drake used to address his one-time lover by... the first and last lover Drake ever had.

With the green eyes came the rest of him. The man had Journey's nose and Valorie's mouth... or would it be that Valorie had his mouth and Journey had his nose? In any case, the more he looked at this dark-haired man with the heavy green eyes shadowed by dark thoughts, the more he saw his honorary niece and nephew in his face. And Sin couldn't stop himself from thinking, quite maniacally, _All right! Looks like there's going to be a little ass kicking before the night ends after all!_

When Will saw the almost giddy glint of violence in his friend's glittering silver eyes, saw just what unfortunate soul was the receiver of such a look, (Could that be Drake's Green Eyes?) he couldn't help but to, for once in his life, be the reasonable one. "Now, Sin... Now, Sin, let's not jump to conclusions here..." And when the look didn't let up, he found himself pitying the poor bastard just a little.

No good ever came from that look in Sin's eyes.

"Oh, I think I've already jumped to several conclusions, cousin," Sin purred before pulling himself from the bench, tossing his forgotten cone into a nearby trash receptacle. "That man can be none other than Mr. Green Eyes himself."

"Could be just an innocent lookalike," Will said casually. When Sin shot him a disbelieving glare, he shrugged offhandedly. "Yeah, that sounded weak to me, too." Then Sin was moving with a renewed purpose, moving toward that poor unsuspecting guy who was about to get hurt for reasons not obvious to him, and Will was jogging to catch up, saying, "Sin, wait. Sin! Dragon is _not_ going to like you going to jail for beating up his six-year crush. _Sin_!"

Will stopped in his tracks, for once completely clueless as to stop this oncoming disaster (and he wasn't too sure he wanted to get in the way of it, either -sowing the seeds of chaos was one of his favorite pastimes). Luckily he didn't have to.

"**_HARRY JAMES POTTER_!**"

The black-haired man bowed his head and groaned. Loudly. Sin slowed to a stop, tilting his head to the side as he watched with narrowed eyes, spotting the owner of that voice. A smartly-dressed woman in practical heels and a pantsuit was stomping her way toward Green Eyes, wild hair whipping in the strong winds. Will had enough sense to move forward and pull his volatile friend behind a tree, and he leaned against the side of the trunk facing the lake as he feigned interest in the rumbling rain clouds. Luckily they were close enough to hear and far enough away to not be overly apparent about it.

"Mione," Will heard the man say evenly, tossing a rock he'd been flipping over and over in his palm into the lake, breaking the surface with a small plop. "How was the fifth year anniversary celebration?"

"You would know," the woman snapped waspishly, "if you had bothered to show up! Honestly, Harry -so many people were worried when you didn't show up! Molly thought something terrible had happened to you -Snape is convinced you crawled into a bottle somewhere and refused to come out! Ron mentioned that you were probably in that pub in the middle-of-nowhere, Surrey -he said you always went there around this time of year. If you went pub crawling on the most important date in British wizarding history, I'll be hard-pressed to forgive you, Harry Potter!"

"Wizarding?" Sin questioned from the corner of his mouth.

"What was yesterday's date?" Will hissed.

"Er, 27 of June, I think," Sin whispered. "What happened-?"

"That's the day he met Drake six years ago," Will pointed out. "Um... five years ago... Oh! Yesterday was the day the Dark Lord whatshisface was killed five years old. There was some big shindig lionizing the momentous occasion."

"How do you know? You suck at remembering holidays and the like!"

"It struck me sort of funny, that some Dark Lord guy fell on the first year anniversary of Drake's meeting Green Eyes and conceiving the twins," Will shrugged. "I read it in the paper yesterday."

"I just wanted to be alone, Hermione," the man said pointedly. "I wasn't in the celebrating mood."

"What, and sending an owl is too difficult for you to handle when you're getting pissed?"

"I wasn't getting pissed," the man said irately, a flash of anger in his eyes. "I was just at a pub. It was _nothing_, Hermione."

"Why always that pub, Harry?" the woman demanded. "You know, alcoholics tend to stick to familiar places-"

"Merlin's beard, Hermione," the man snapped, "I'm not an alcoholic! Have you ever seen me so much as touch anything stronger than butterbeer?"

"Then why weren't you there? Why did you skip out -again?"

"Stupidity?" the man shot back. "Look, Hermione -I met this amazing person, once -someone who didn't give a flip about the whole Boy Who Lived aspect, someone who didn't even _know_ about it -and for some stupid reason, I always think 'maybe this is the year I'll find that someone again, in that nameless little pub like I did six years ago'. Forgive me if I'd rather take my ritual in that then celebrating the fact that, oh, gosh-gee-wow, I'm not dead. Okay?"

Silence. Will smirked at Sin. Sin scowled at Will.

"Shut up," he groused lowly, crossing his arms.

"Congratulations," Will whispered. "You almost beat the snot out of a guy who's just as much a love-struck idiot over Drake as Drake is over him."

"Shut _up_, Will."

"We seriously need to work on your people skills."

"So help me Merlin, Will-"

"Do you mean that boy who wrote you that letter, Harry?" Will heard the woman murmur, and he signaled Sin to be quiet. He heard the man -Harry- inhale sharply.

"How did you...? Oh, for fuck's sake, Hermione Granger, tell me you didn't go through my things!"

"He didn't even know your name, did he?" the woman pointed out. "Harry, that summer -it was a low point in your life. You'd just lost Sirius, you had a lot of things on your mind... you attached yourself to the one good thing that seemed to happen to you, so tightly that you don't even realize that he used you, Harry. It's not healthy to-"

"Stop it, Hermione. Just. Stop." The woman went silent at the frothy ire in the man's voice. "You don't understand at all. You _can't_ understand. It was more than just a stupid one-night stand -it was the point in my life where I could look myself in the mirror again and realize that there were things worth fighting for. Even if I do see him again -and I know how unlikely that is... even if it doesn't pan out, I still need him to know that he helped me on a much deeper level than just carnal need."

"Harry-"

"I'm not explaining this right at all," Harry argued. "Look, just... there's more to it than just that. All right? He gave me a bloody _theme song_, Hermione -I know that sounds ridiculously stupid, but _it helped._ It helped me get over the fact that it was kill or be killed, it helped with the idea that I'd lost almost all of the parental figures in my life, it helped when I was on that bloody cliff battling it out with a monster who thought about nothing but killing me since before I was _born_. It helped, Hermione, and that's all you need to know."

Silence prevailed for several moments before Hermione gave up. Instead, she sighed and glanced toward the sky. "Lucius Malfoy's funeral was this morning. The giving of his estate is tomorrow."

Harry snorted. "So?" He bent forward, picking up another rock and tossing it in the air several times before he reared back and threw it with all of his might. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Are you going?"

"Why should I? Malfoy was hardly my biggest fan," Harry said with a sour face. "I could barely stand the prat myself."

"He did a lot for the Order, Harry -a lot that he wasn't publicly recognized for," Hermione argued. Will and Sin exchanged looks. "They're holding a coronation for the Malfoy heir and everything. Narcissa mentioned that she'd hope you would show up at least."

Harry grunted. "Didn't know Lucius had an heir."

"Narcissa mentioned that it wasn't a... a favorable relationship between father and son," Hermione hedged. "The way she described it, Lucius helped the Order of the Phoenix mainly for his son. Dumbledore promised to write a letter of recommendation to the Minister... in hopes that he could regain custody of his son. However..." She trailed off.

"Dumbledore died," Harry finished monotonously. "Guess Malfoy never got his letter of recommendation."

"No," Hermione said quietly. "No, he didn't. But Narcissa still hopes that she could at least have some form of bond with her son, Harry -she's hoping our... our attendance will prove to him that his view of them is outdated."

"So it's a Boy Who Lived, Muggleborn, and Weasley thing, isn't it?" Harry said bitterly. "Like parading us around and going, 'oh, look, we older generation of Malfoys can get along with the poor, the dirty, and the greatest threat to our former master, thank the gods his tyranny is over.'"

"Harry," the woman said in reprimand.

"Will going get you off my case about missing yesterday's celebration?" the man asked wearily.

"Perhaps," the woman said with a tight smile. "It won't save you from the papers. The Daily Prophet had some pretty slanderous things to say about you missing the public appearance on the anniversary of the Dark Lord's defeat -yet again. They alluded that you had aspirations to becoming the next Dark Lord."

Harry snorted. "Welcome to my life."

"So are you going?"

"I guess. If it'll get you to stop nagging me."

Hermione sighed. "Come on, then, Harry. We've been tempting that storm for far too long. Let's go get something to eat -my treat."

Will watched the two walk away, and Sin peered over Will's head. Once the two were out of sight, Will turned around and smirked at his equally amused friend.

"Things are about to get a little interesting around here," Will said casually. "Wouldn't you say?"

"I think I should feel bad that I don't plan to tell Drake about any of this," Sin said, his eyes glittering. "Oh, dear Merlin, I _am_ turning into you."

Will laughed and clapped his friend on the back, leading him in the opposite direction of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. "Chaos, dude. It's a marvelous thing to observe."

_**END Chapter One**_

And that concludes the first chapter of _He Was Just A Boy_. Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews would be much appreciated::pleading look:


	3. Chapter Two

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My vacation got pushed back a week. Lucky you. Unlucky me -I was actually looking forward to getting away from this place for a few days... :_pouts_:

* * *

_**He Was Just A Boy  
**_**_Capricious Purple Clarity  
__Chapter Two_**

* * *

"I feel like a trussed-up turkey in this get-up."

Aedri smirked at his son. "Get over it. Merlin, you bitch more than Rodriguez about your abysmal grades in Herbology, Sinclair."

"Don't call me Sinclair," Sinclair muttered, distracted by the last small button at his collar. When he succeeded in buttoning it, he found his wind-pipe halfway choked off. "Can't... breath..."

"Don't be ridiculous," Aedri said casually, checking himself in the full length mirror of the bathroom. "If you couldn't breathe, you wouldn't be talking. Oh, good gods above," he said when he actually turned to _look_ at his son. "You _look_ like a trussed-up turkey. Honestly, does that sister-in-law of mine have any taste at all?"

"It's decided," Sinclair choked out, finally relieving himself of the one stubborn button and breathing deep. "The woman's out to get me. Bet she blames me for her son's rebellion and _everything_ -someone should point out the idea that if it's rebellion that's the case, it's really all Will's fault."

"Why bother?" Aedri replied in long-suffering amusement. "He won't feel bad about it or anything."

"Damn skippy," William said as he breezed in, his azure blue robes fitting his form to the T. "Can you believe that woman? I don't _do_ bright, chirpy colors! I knew we should have gone out and bought our own dress robes for this ridiculous notion of passing on outdated patriarchic bullshit. The feminists in this country must be frothing at the mouth over this gross injustice."

Coming from a man who claimed he wanted to donate his testicles to a lovely feminist group after his death, Aedri didn't take his comment with much salt.

"Christ, Sin, you look worse than I do," William said in disgust before he turned narrow eyes on his former teacher, current debate partner, and forever mentor. "And how the hell did you manage to land an outfit that actually makes you look good?"

"Because my dear sister-in-law knows I'm not above burying her up to her neck on the shore of a beach during low tide," Aedri said sweetly. He wasn't going to tell them that he'd actually gone shopping with the overenthusiastic woman, and he'd approved of both robes despite her protests simply for entertainment value.

He'd told her they'd never forget the sentiment. He never mentioned they'd never forgive her for it either.

"Close the door behind you, William. There's a word I'd like to have with the two of you."

"A word, Uncle Aedri?" William said innocently, using the heel of his boot to kick the door shut. "Hell, let's go all out -why don't we make it two?"

Aedri hated that his patent Glare of Doom had long stopped working on the insolent yet loveable git. He supposed after being on the receiving end of it since he was in nappies dulled the impact such a stare had after a prolonged period of time. "You two have that look. That look that says you're about to stir the cauldron to the brink of explosion. When it's just you, William, that's worry enough. Proving my fear that you would eventually corrupt my son was not unfound is disturbing. William, how could you do this to me?"

"You say corruption, I say education," William shot back with that ever-present smirk that always inspired a certain amount of unease in Aedri. "Relax, Dri -your son's finally realized that chaos is the only way. Down with Establishment!"

"Go boil your head in hot wax," Aedri said lazily. "Now. What's going on?"

"Should we tell him?" Sinclair asked William mischievously.

"Hmm. Yes, I think Uncle Aedri will appreciate the irony of the situation," William said solemnly. "We saw Green Eyes yesterday. Turns out, he's a wizard."

Aedri felt his eyebrows raise. Then he glanced at his son, who seemed a little _too_ calm about all of this. "And... he's still breathing? Sinclair, your exercise in patience astounds me."

"We also eavesdropped rather shamelessly on a conversation between Green Eyes and his friend," Sinclair said quickly, avoiding the subject. Aedri found himself smirking at his son's unwitting admittance that, yes, his cool had been close to being lost. "Turns out his name is Harry Potter. Ring any bells?"

Oh.

Oh, buggering hell.

"You're pulling my leg. No, wait. William's involved," said Aedri. Despite his charge's habit of pushing his sanity to the brink, William never really outright lied to Aedri. "Harry Potter? The bloody Boy Who Lived himself is Draco's Green Eyes? Draco is the bearer of the Boy Who Lived's children?"

"We actually had to do some research to find out this whole Boy Who Lived nonsense," William said with a casual flick of his wrist. "Defeater of that Lord Voldemort guy and all. Actually deflected a Killing Curse, if the books we read are telling the truth. Gutsy, refusing to die and all. You'd think he'd have some sort of honorable mention in the States, but relations between the British and US Ministries have never been really good. Another way the Establishment's screwed us over."

"Anyway, Narcissa's gone and invited Green Eyes to this whole coronation stuff," Sinclair said eagerly. "He has no idea that the coronation is being held in Drake's honor, and Drake thinks Green Eyes is a muggle, so he's not expecting anything either. We're sort of going to sit back and watch the fireworks."

William smirked devilishly. "Wanna spectate with us, Dri? I promise, once you get a taste of observing bedlam, you'll never quite get the same fix twice."

"And if this all blows up in your face?" Aedri honestly wanted to know. "What if it goes south, and this isn't the happily ever after we've quite been hoping for our little Draco?"

"Funny thing, chaos," William said with a shrug. "Tends to work itself out. So? You in?"

"Your infatuation with the concept of complete disorder and confusion both astonishes and alarms me, William Black," Aedri said with an arrogant toss of his head.

William grinned. "Sounded like a yes to me."

A house-elf popped in to inform them that guests were beginning to arrive before popping back out again. With one last look at William's grinning pleasure and Sinclair Malfoy's eager anticipation, Aedri Malfoy decided that, for once, he wouldn't meddle in the affairs of his children any longer.

* * *

Harry felt like he was seconds away from being eaten alive. There seemed to be a calming illusion about safety in numbers -on one side of him stood Ginerva and Ron Weasley, and on the other was Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood.

"I apologize for our tardiness," Hermione said. Behind the Malfoy woman and through a wide, expansive doorway was a ball room filled with finely dressed wizards and witches, some familiar and most not.

"It's no problem, Hermione. Thank you for coming," Narcissa whispered to them in confidence, relief evident in her voice. "My brother-in-law convinced me to purchase some unfitting robes for his son and his charge -I saw William shoot me a nasty glare in the corridor earlier, and from what I know of him, that's never a safe sign. I could only hope he wouldn't do something that would ruin Draco's night."

"Of course he wouldn't, Narcissa," Hermione said warmly. She and the woman had, upon first meeting, hit it off. As it turned out, Narcissa wasn't as cold as she made herself out to be, and she and Hermione miraculously enough shared a common love affair with books. It wasn't uncommon to see the two deliberating over something they'd read somewhere.

Harry found himself slightly boggling at the surreal sight of two adorable little blonde children with wide green eyes clutching at Narcissa's robes. Hermione, always joyful at the sight of children, immediately knelt to their level and smiled.

"They're absolutely darling, Narcissa," Hermione said with a note of pleasure in her voice. "My name's Hermione Granger. And you are?"

"Valorie," the little girl piped, a clear note of an American accent in her voice as the girl hid half of her face in Narcissa's skirt. "Valorie Vonzell Malfoy. I'm five." She announced this with all the solemnity a five year old could muster.

"I'm Journey Harrison Malfoy," the little boy added shyly. "I'm five, too."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Valorie and Journey," Hermione said kindly. "You have such pretty eyes -I don't think I've met a Malfoy who didn't have silver or blue eyes."

"Kind of remind you of Harry's eyes, eh?" Ginny whispered to her brother.

"Valorie, Journey," Narcissa said, "these are Miss Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, and Miss Lovegood."

"Hello," the children said sweetly before stuffing their faces in the folds of Narcissa's elegant robes. Harry felt a smile tilt the corners of his mouth slightly, a bit envious at the sight of the children. It had always been a dream of his to raise a score of children, but... with his sexual orientation as it was, it was a vain dream, at best.

"They're my grandchildren," Narcissa added, a note of sad pride in her voice. Harry supposed that if the strain in relationship between her and her son was as bad as Hermione made it out to be, the older woman didn't have much in the way of an opportunity to spoil her grandchildren as much as she wanted.

"They must get their eyes from their mother," Hermione said.

Narcissa appeared surprised for a moment before she laughed ruefully. "Oh, yes... from one of their parents, though not a mother. Draco was the carrier of the twins, in this case."

Harry frowned, puzzled. "Carrier?"

"Oh, well, yes," Narcissa said carefully. "My son's not interested in women, Harry. The Veela in his blood was strong enough to give him the ability to birth children."

Before Harry could ponder that anymore than necessary, a cheerful voice called down from the winding steps, "Oh, yes, and Drac_o_ had a night of torrid passion with a green eyed tempter and, well, I guess it goes without saying. Hello, precious darlings. Come give Uncle Will shared skin surface and that odd thing you do when you press your lips to my cheeks."

The twins burst into giggles, and the little girl said in admonishment, "Hugs and _kisses_, Uncle Will!"

"How should I ever get used to these things?" the man named Will said with an exasperated wave of his hands, not pausing in his venture down the stairs. Oddly enough he was dressed in formal muggle attire, along with the young silver-eyed, blond man that followed him. He, along with the older man with the same hair and eyes had the definite look of the Malfoys. "Aedri never showed me such tenderness growing up. You're a beast, Aedri!"

"You're repulsive, William," the older Malfoy said easily and without ire.

Will planted his hands on his hips and tapped his foot expectantly once he reached the base of the stairs. "So? Are you going to do that kugs and hisses thing or not?"

"_Hugs and kisses_," Journey giggled, detaching himself from Narcissa's robes to throw himself bodily at the dark-haired, blue-eyed man. Valorie was not far behind.

"Oh, dear," Narcissa sighed despondently. "I knew those robes just weren't to your liking. Aedri, how could you ever convince me to buy such things?"

"What?" the younger Malfoy said in horror, staring at the older one as if he'd done something unbearably horrible. "You sick bastard. You tried to asphyxiate me!"

"Your suffering shall be legend, Aedri Malfoy," Will promised firmly... which couldn't really be taken seriously, what with two giggling children in either arm.

Aedri Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Sinclair, you could still breathe. If you couldn't breathe, you couldn't have possibly griped about not being able to breathe. William... well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see you get what was coming to you."

William narrowed his eyes grudgingly. "Touche, old timer." He allowed the children to slide from his waist to the floor, and he approached the group with a disarming smirk and calculating eyes that fairly screaming 'up to something'. "Aunt Narcissa, are you going to introduce me to your guests?"

"Of course," Narcissa murmured. "These are Ron Weasley and his sister, Ginny."

William clasped Ron's hand in a firm pump of hands before transferring his grip to Ginny's hand. Ginny smiled slightly at the solid handshake.

"Nice grip. Most men shake my hand as if I'd break."

William flashed her a knowing smile. "Most men don't know that women have this amazing ability to kick men in the naughty bits when they underestimate women." He repeated the same firm handshake with Luna and Hermione when they were introduced, and turned quickly to offer Harry his hand as well.

"And this is Harry Potter," Narcissa said finally.

"So what's the N stand for then?" Will asked, a note of innocence in his voice as his eyes traced over Harry's scar.

"N?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Yeah -you know. The N thing." The man jutted his chin toward Harry's forehead pointedly. "Middle initial? Or did you get on someone's bad side when you were a sprout, and they decided to carve N for nitwit into your head?"

Silence. In the ballroom, a woman laughed rather shrilly, and there was a tinkle of glass above the murmur of the group. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Aedri Malfoy slowly place a hand over his face with a soft, disbelieving groan.

"Mr. Potter, disregard his ignorance as I have for most of his life," Aedri said tiredly. "The relationship between the US and British Ministries has never been up to par -you and the whole Dark Lord situation wasn't as important in the States as it was over here. My son and my wards are... not as familiar with the significance of that scar as most British wizards are."

"Weird," Ron said, obviously boggled by this statement. "Harry can't take a walk without being accosted by someone asking for an autograph."

"That's not necessarily true," Hermione argued. "Muggles have no idea who Harry is."

It was settled, then. Harry was moving to the Colonies to become just another face in the crowd.

"This is my nephew, William Black, my brother-in-law Aedri Malfoy, and his son, Sinclair," Narcissa rounded off serenely.

"Sin," Sinclair announced quickly. "Only the old timer and Aunt Narcissa calls me Sinclair."

"Black, you said?" Hermione questioned. "I thought Sirius..."

Harry barely resisted the urge to flinch violently, still sore from the loss of his godfather, even after so many years.

"William is my cousin Regulus' son," Narcissa seemed to explain tenderly. Knowing of Regulus Black's untimely fate, Harry looked at the man intending to apologize for his unfortunate loss. Surprisingly, the man's whimsical grin caught him off guard.

"My dad died before I was born," William explained in a tone that almost bordered on cheerful. "My mom died during childbirth -Uncle Aedri here raised me since I was knee high to a crab louse. As much as he claims to despise me, I like to think of him as the closest thing to a father I've ever had."

Aedri looked at Will with a long suffering look on his face. "William, I don't despise you. You were a very difficult student to deal with back in your schooling days. I stopped giving you detention every time you challenged my knowledge, didn't I?"

"You stopped giving me detentions because you were horrified when you realized you'd mapped out exactly where you were going to bury my mutilated corpse," Will said with a winning grin. Aedri appeared startled for a moment, and then a gleam of approval entered his eyes. "The difference between you and me is the fact that I'm horrified by nothing I do, as whatever I do is obviously human nature, and to be horrified with human nature is condemning the entire race. You should have kept giving me detentions purely to see if you could resist your human instinct, which was to remove a problem from the situation, i.e.: an insolent child was debasing you in front of your inferiors."

"Touche, boy," said the man in appreciation.

"You teach, Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione asked quickly. Harry could see, out of the corner of his eye, Hermione was giving William Black a shrewd frown, obviously disapproving of his attitude.

"Dad's the Defense professor at Sarvis Academy for the Gifted in Salem," Sin announced with a sly grin. "He absolutely _hates _it."

"Nonsense," Aedri said casually. "I love force-feeding intolerable brats like Will knowledge, something most young people that age abhor and avoid like the plague. It shows me exactly what hell is going to be like."

Right.

Americans were weird, yet slightly quirky in a sort of pleasant, can't-wait-to-see-what-he-says-next way. Harry couldn't wait to move there himself. He was just pondering the price of such an expenditure when Narcissa led them to the ballroom. Will and Sin immediately branched off and made a beeline for a passing tray filled with champagne. Aedri Malfoy was a little more formal with his departure when he excused himself to go speak with someone Harry recognized all too well -it was hard to miss the sour disposition of his former Potions Master and fellow Order member, Severus Snape. The brief, offhanded description Aedri provided on just what he thought of his job reminded Harry of his erstwhile professor of Potions, and Harry wondered vaguely if Aedri Malfoy was the Snape of Sarvis Academy.

"Mimi," a bright, inquisitive voice popped in, and Harry immediately turned his eyes to the blonde child who spoke the word while tugging gently on Narcissa's robes. "I need to go to the bathroom."

Journey looked grateful that his sister had voiced her needs before he piped that he required the same facilities. Harry supposed Valorie was the more outgoing of the duo -Journey seemed like the shy one.

"Mrs. Malfoy," said a breathless woman, clearly dressed in well-kept servants' robes, "there's a situation that needs your attention in the kitchens."

Narcissa looked torn between taking her grandchildren to the lavatory and dealing with the minor crisis in the kitchen when Harry volunteered, "I'll take them, Narcissa."

The blonde woman looked at Harry gratefully. "Thank you, Harry. Little ones, Mr. Potter will help you to the lavatory. Be good little children for him, all right?"

"Yes, Mimi," the twins chorused obediently, immediately slipping their small hands into his own. He was already being led out of the ballroom and away from appraising eyes when he realized that he had no idea where one would go about locating a privy.

"Hope you two know where you're going," Harry said cheerfully, trying to hide his nervousness at dealing with young children, "because I've never been here before."

Journey nibbled on his bottom lip shyly before Valorie came up with a solution. "Our suit has a private bathroom," the girl volunteered carefully, peering up at Harry through her blonde eyelashes. "It's on the third floor. We're sharing a suit with Daddy."

"Can you make it that far?"

"Uh-huh," the twins said, nodding their heads in unison.

"Lead the way," Harry said, and the twins were dragging him up two flights of stairs hurriedly.

_**END CHAPTER TWO**_

Chapter 2 down. Author is a whore for reviews; however, if you have something bad to say, please do so coherently. I like for you to list reasons to back up your beef with what I've written.


	4. Chapter Three

**Author's Note: Wow. Talk about random update of the DECADE. :_smirks_:**

**Okay, so I'll be honest. Most of this chapter had been completed waaaay before now, and the reason I've waited so long to post it is because I finally decided the chapter wasn't going to get any longer and wrote a proper ending for it. Updates for this one are going to be a little sparse because I focus most of my attention on other projects. (:_coughs_: HpatFH :_coughs_:) Rest assured that I WILL eventually finish this one because I simply refuse to leave it as it is. It's intolerable. I'll force the ending out if I have to make my fingers bleed to do it.**

**Thanks to all the people who still review. (At this point, I'm still surprised I'm getting reviews for it. :_sweatdrops_:) Heh. Onward!**

* * *

_**He Was Just A Boy  
**__**Capricious Purple Clarity  
**__**Chapter Three**_

* * *

"Now where are they going?" Hermione overheard Aedri's son ask in amusement. She turned an eye on him, realizing he was watching Harry disappear with the children in tow. She narrowed her eyes at the speculative gleam in William Black's knowing blue eyes.

"Harry volunteered to take the children to the privy," Ginny answered, smiling quickly at Sinclair. Obviously the girl had taken a liking to the blond Malfoy.

"Privy?" Sin mumbled in question.

"British term for the john," William answered with a smirk at his friend. "You're so ignorant, Sin."

"Hey, am not," Sin protested in a grumble. "Bollocks, bloody, bleeding, pillock, git, prat -so I don't know the British term for the can. Sue me."

"I've got a feeling," Will announced with a smirk, sliding a sly gaze at Sin.

"Do you?" Sin murmured casually, leaning against a table and sipping at his champagne flute.

"I do," Will said in delight. "The unveiling is near. Can't you feel it in your bones? It's almost like Fate. Come on, young grasshopper, before we miss the climax."

Luna looked at Will with that same vague, lackadaisical expression she'd never quite lost since her Hogwarts days. "Do you mean this is the time Harry finds out he's actually the father of those two children?"

Obviously, Hermione had heard wrong. For a moment, she'd thought Luna had actually assumed that the Malfoy heir's children belonged to Harry. When she saw the surprised look on Sinclair's face and the narrowed, measuring eyes of Will, she felt her stomach drop. "What? Luna, you can't be serious..."

"How ever did you know... Luna, is it?" William almost purred, casually hooking his arm around Luna's elbow. Hermione was hard-pressed not to boggle outwardly at the brash young man whose attitude needed a fair readjustment by her standards.

"Isn't it obvious?" Luna asked coyly. "They have his eyes. Mrs. Malfoy informed us that her son had been the carrier, and that the other parent was male. You yourself implied that Mrs. Malfoy's son had been wooed by a green-eyed man. I'd noticed that Sinclair seemed to stare quite hard at Harry when you'd said it."

"You're deceptively clever, sweetheart," Will murmured in commendation. "You almost appear as if your in a constant dreamlike state, but obviously that's not the case, is it? I like that."

Luna smiled absently. "Most people find it irritating."

"Most people are ignorant," Will said in dismissal. "Like Sin, only at least he has his moments."

"Gee, thanks, asshole," Sin muttered, tossing back the rest of his champagne and setting the empty glass on the table. "We going to follow or what? I'm having second thoughts about not warning Drake about this at all."

Hermione almost raised her voice, almost asked just what the devil were these people drinking to get them to even fathom that those children were Harry's at all, despite perhaps the uncanny resemblance that weren't only Harry's eyes... but the moment Sinclair mentioned the name 'Drake' was the exact moment that it struck Hermione.

"Oh, my God," Hermione murmured, eyes wide. She glanced at Ginny and Ron and found them in similar states of upheaval.

"Are you all completely mad?" Ron whispered loudly. "Harry would have told me if he'd slept with _anyone_!"

"Ron," Hermione said quietly, "it was... the summer after Sirius..."

"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Ron asked, sounding betrayed.

"I accidently came across a note," Hermione murmured plaintively. "Harry never intended for any of us to know. I didn't quite believe everything could be so... but then Sinclair mentioned Drake, which is obviously a shortened form of Draco... The note was signed Drake, Ron. It all fits."

"When I said their eyes reminded me of Harry's, I never even contemplated that this..." Ginny shook her head. "We've got to follow them! Er, to ensure that everything goes... okay?" Hermione was sure Ginny's hasty excuse sounded flimsy even to her ears.

"You're nosy and you know it," Sin said with a grin. "C'mon -safe bet, the twins wanted to go to their room to use the john simply so they could play with their toys after they were finished."

"I guess no one would listen to me if I suggested that we let the children sort it out between themselves," Aedri said casually, startling almost everyone except Will and Luna.

Will and Sin snorted derisively. "Get real, Dad."

Aedri shrugged. "Well, I tried."

"Rather half-assed attempt, but I give you points for unobtrusively including yourself in the party of observers," Will said wittily before, arm and arm with Luna, leading the group for a casual dash to the third floor.

"I have Extendible Ears for everyone," Ginny announced brightly.

"I know this nifty spell that allows a certain party to see through walls," Sin offered cheerfully.

"I can conjure popcorn I popped beforehand." Will smirked when everyone gave him looks. "What? Always be prepared, that's my motto. Right after 'Down with the Establishment.'"

"Just how long did you know in advance that Harry would even be here?" Hermione asked waspishly.

"Since yesterday," Sin replied with a smug grin. "We'll explain later."

"Or we'll just leave you wondering over our vast knowledge of the future," Will said nonchalantly. "Depends on my mood, I'm afraid."

----------

When Narcissa returned from dealing with the small catastrophe in the kitchens, she didn't really have time to wonder over where the American branch of her family disappeared to, nor why her muggleborn friend Hermione and the young woman's friends appeared to have gone missing with them. She fixed a polite smile on her face as she mingled with people she really had no desire to speak to -the Parkinsons and the Notts, two prominent pureblood families that escaped the wrath of the Ministry after the fall of the Dark Lord.

It wasn't until she managed to excuse herself from that circle that she realized she had not seen hide nor hair of her disgruntled son since the first guests arrived nearly two hours ago. It was then after a quick search that she found that Aedri and his family had somehow slipped away, which didn't surprise her in the least. It was the fact that Hermione, a young woman who wouldn't leave without a word unless there was a dire emergency to be handled, had disappeared along with them that shocked her. Even then, she would have made sure one of her friends stayed to inform Narcissa of the situation.

"Now where did everyone run off to?" she wondered out loud, thinking about going in search of them until someone else flagged her down. She sighed and pasted on a polite smile as she went to make sure her guests were comfortable, inwardly hoping that everything was all right with Hermione and her friends, and Aedri and his family...

----------

If Drake had gotten his way, he'd never have to go downstairs simply for the benefit of a bunch of his estranged parents' friends to parade around as the new Head of the Malfoy Lineage. The moment Narcissa had mentioned the event, he had done his best to shoot the idea down and let it lay dead and forgotten. Unfortunately his resolve was no match to his mother's hopeful eyes and pretty words asking him to allow her to prove that everything Drake had thought of his late father was superannuated. In the end he had relented... but he still wasn't quite happy about it.

His family. For the majority of his life, he had nothing but scornful words and scathing ire for his parents. After meeting them for a short time on his tenth birthday, he summed them up in four words. Standoffish. Purists. Elitists. Corrupt. His opinion of them decreased when, after demanding the truth, Aedri reluctantly admitted that Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater, and the same was a possibility for his wife.

Death Eaters. Murderers, torturers, and the most feared kind of villain that haunted the British wizarding world. It shamed Drake to know that his so-called parents were nothing more than bigoted elitists that took hatred to an extreme level.

For years he strived to be nothing like them; thinking back on it now, Drake admitted that, in some cases, he went entirely too far. The hair, the clothes, the piercings, maybe even the smoking -those were the _safe_ things, things he knew Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy would not approve of. Out of spite and an almost obsessive need to prove to himself that he would never be like them, he lost himself in a world of alcohol, drugs, raves, and all-night parties.

It wasn't until Drake was caught shoplifting and completely out of his mind on methamphetamine that Aedri slapped him with the cold, hard truth.

"In your efforts to prove you're nothing like them, Draco Malfoy," Aedri had said quietly to the sober, shame-faced fifteen year old, "you've proven that you could sink just as low, but on an entirely different scale. Congratulations. You are exactly what you didn't want to be."

Drake had decided, after a heart-rendering epiphany of epic proportions, that he needed to reevaluate and rebuild his entire character. He quickly and efficiently wrote the drugs and alcohol out of his life, did away with the raves and parties, and even took out the more extreme piercings. It was a constant but resilient uphill struggle... all up until the point he'd received word from Narcissa Malfoy that Lucius had been arrested and tried for Death Eater activities.

A solid thump sounded from the other room, startling the blond from his silent brooding. He smiled fondly when he heard the voice of his daughter followed by his son's trill reply, muffled through the solid oak door that separated him from the rest of the world. His precious children -probably the only thing he had ever done right in comparison with the rest of his tremulous teenage years. No matter his mood, his children, both fair of hair and skin and green of eyes, always filled his heart with warmth.

They reminded him of his elusive Green Eyes so much.

The man had been in the forefront of Drake's mind ever since he'd come to England, a constant worry over where and how Drake could find him niggling at him. Drake supposed that, when all things were said and done, he would probably peruse the extensive Malfoy Library in search of a tracking spell. It all seemed so extreme in retrospect, and who was to say his Green Eyes would even be interested in being visited by a one-night stand? He was almost certain that someone like his Green Eyes would have found somebody by now.

That didn't mean Drake could not or would not try. But rejection, no matter how kindly executed, was always a hard pill to swallow.

He snapped out of his silent musings, the blood in his body almost instantly freezing when he heard something that almost sent any father into blind panic.

Twin shrieks of terror.

In under a second he was bounding across the room, going as far as hurdling over an ottoman with his wand clutched firmly in his hand. He nearly pulled the door from its iron hinges in his hurry to get to his children.

"Valorie? Journey! What's-"

Twin blurs immediately hurdled themselves at him. "_Daddy!_"

----------

"This is it?"

"Un-huh," the little blonde girl nodded quickly, the loose ringlets of her hair bobbing at the motion. Harry suppressed a smile when she peaked up at him through her silvery eyelashes. Only moments before he had spotted Journey sneak the thumb of the hand Harry wasn't holding into his mouth, wrapping his small cherubic fingers around his nose like any true thumb sucker would. Both children seemed prone to sneaking quick peaks up at Harry and, in Journey's case, almost a minute's worth of a wide-eyed guileless stare of wonder.

"That's our daddy's room," the girl pointed out quietly as they entered the suite's private foyer, her outstretched finger indicating a closed door that emitted soft, muffled strains of music. "He's in there boo-ding."

"Boo-ding?" Harry inquired curiously.

"Uh-huh," Valorie said quickly. "Uncle Will says Daddy boods a lot and has dee-pessive psyo-ogical ish-shoes. I don't know what that means, though. I'm five." And she smartly held up that many fingers.

"Uncle Sin says it means Daddy is a sad, sad bastard," Journey said helpfully, "but I'm not supposed to say that."

Harry choked on his laughter. Charming imps, weren't they? Lucius would have been _so proud_... "I won't tell if you won't."

"'Kay," Valorie replied, sounding quite happy that Harry wasn't going to get her brother in trouble. "Are you gonna give us choc'late frogs now?"

Harry blinked at the abrupt turn in the conversation. "Am I meant to?"

"Uncle Will says that anyone worth respe'ting should give us choc'late frogs," the little girl responded boldly; clearly, the young Malfoy scion thought the world of her uncle Will, and his words were gold in her eyes.

"He says candy from strangers taste better," Journey added quietly, hiding a smile. "But Daddy an' Uncle Sin an' Papa Dri always hit him when he says it, so I think he's bein'... sa-cas-tic?" The boy looked to his twin sister for confirmation, uncertain as to whether he'd used the word correctly. His questioning look prompted a solemn nod from Valorie.

The girl seemed to realize at that moment that they'd left the party downstairs for a reason, and she ran to door that Harry could only assume was the lavatory. She shut the door behind her, leaving Journey and Harry to themselves. Harry turned to the boy, thinking of attempting to make some form of small conversation that was suitable for someone his age, but he immediately lost himself upon hearing a strange... humming?

"_Na na nana na na nana na na nana na na nana... nanana... nanana... nana na na nana..._"(1)

_What in the world?..._

He frowned, attempting to pinpoint the source of the strange, oddly familiar humming. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Journey mumbled, his words slurred around the thumb that had sneaked its way back into his mouth.

"You don't hear that humming?"

The boy tilted his head to the side. "You mean Daddy's music?"

Harry could honestly say that the strange humming was nothing like the throbbing music that was muffled by the closed door that Valorie had indicated was where her father was.

"_Aha! Target sighted... Blast, where's the other lunchable?_"

Lunchable?

The boy frowned suddenly, appearing wary as he started to look around, obviously ill at ease. "Satan?"

... Satan?

Before Harry could probe further, he could hear the toilet flush moments before the door to the bathroom flew open, and the little girl was making her way back to her twin's side. She didn't seem at all aware of the intruder that Harry could hear.

"_There's my favorite morsel! Operation: Eat the Pets will commence in three..._"

Wait... The faint sound of a... hissing?

"_... two..."_

That could only mean...!

"_One!"_

And a mammoth-sized boa constrictor was suddenly charging from under the safety of the couch, jaw unhinged as it made a cry that translated into, "_Come into my belly!_"

The twins shrieked in genuine fright just before Harry swept in front of them, holding his wand to the gigantic snake as he hissed fiercely, _"STOP!"_

Amazingly, the snake did as he was told. _"You've employed a bigger Parselmouth?"_ the snake hissed at the children, sounding both surprised and disgusted. _"Cheaters!"_

It was at that moment that the door leading to the children's father's room was nearly torn from its hinges, a man rushing out of the room as quickly as he could while gasping out, "Valorie? Journey! What–"

The twins immediately abandoned their safety behind Harry, both making a mad dash towards the young man with exalted cries of, "Daddy!"

"_Curses!" _the snake hissed. _"Thwarted again!"_

"_Satan tried to eat us again!"_ Valorie cried, pointing accusingly at the sulking boa constrictor.

"Darling, you know I can't understand you when you do that," the man said gently, kneeling before his children and hugging them close. He had soft, silver eyes that seemed slightly strained, if the faint, premature crow's feet around the corners of his eyes were anything to go by; the mark of a doting father who worried often. He had hair the same shade as the twins' platinum locks, but instead of the normal neatly styled hair that Harry was so used to seeing befitting a Malfoy (what he privately referred to as the secret mark of a Malfoy -not a hair out of place and amazingly immaculate), this Malfoy's hair was a little shaggy, ending just shy of his earlobes.

And then the man seemed to notice Harry for the first time; their eyes locked, and Harry felt a strange tug at his heart when recognition immediately set in. It was like... like losing something important so long ago, only to finally find it after long years of searching...

"It's you," Harry whispered, barely audible against the sound of his own blood rushing madly in his ears.

The man Harry had come to think of as Drake seemed equally as shocked. "Green Eyes..."

----------

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to their audience secretly watching from outside of the bedroom suit (courtesy a nifty see-through spell, a delightfully new contraption called Extendable Ears, and a large bowl of warm buttery popcorn that was being passed around), Sin thwacked Will soundly on the back of his head with the meaty part of his palm, glaring at the other man.

"You let that menace out?"

"Satan is _not_ a menace," Will said defensively, rubbing the abused area sullenly. "He's just _playing_. The bratlings just misinterpret his actions as him trying to eat them again."

"You named an eight-foot boa constrictor _Satan_?" Hermione hissed, aghast.

"I think the name fits," Luna murmured dreamily.

"There. See? Luna thinks it's a befitting name," Will said boastfully, his tone indicating that he was thoroughly convinced that Luna's opinion was the only one that counted, and screw what anybody else had to say about it. "I couldn't leave him in his habitat, could I? It's unfair to him! He should be aloud to roam free and plunder... Oh, Merlin, look at their _faces_...!" He broke down, pointing and laughing at the indignant expressions on the twins' cherubic faces.

"You're terrible," Hermione declared hotly. "Utterly and unrepentantly cruel!"

"Ah, Satan knows Drake would have him for breakfast if the snakey jerk ever did anything to the twins," Sin said casually, shifting in his seated position against the wall opposite of Draco Malfoy's suite. "And Will would be the one fricasseing his scaley hide."

"In other words," Aedri said oilily, slanting a sly glance at the dark-haired man, "this is just another classic example of William's poor parenting skills."

"What parenting skills?" Sin muttered caustically. "Drake's still pissed over him almost losing Lor in a poker game."

As one, everyone in the hallway silently turned incredulous (or, in Sin and Aedri's case, long-suffering) stares to the recalcitrant and, more importantly, unrepentant dark-haired man, who faced them all with a smug smirk and a cooly raised eyebrow.

"Say what you will," Will responded confidently, "I still say that last card would have been the ace I needed for my royal flush, and I would have been proven right if Draco hadn't thrown his little snit after he kicked the door in. I so had that in the bank."

Ron summed it up in one word. "Degenerate."

Will shrugged delicately. "I can live with that."

* * *

_**END CHAPTER THREE**_

**(1) It's MEANT to be the theme song from _Mission: Impossible_... It's so hard getting auditory humor across to the reader when words aren't really being used... Heh.**

**Review, please! Who knows? It might inspire me. :_cheerful grin_:**


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